Chickamauga Lock funding spurs questions

The crumbling Chickamauga Lock will continue to operate in Chattanooga, but the lock did not qualify for any funding for aggressive maintenance and repairs, U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Army Jo-Ellen Darcy told a Congressional panel Tuesday.

"We still will be performing operations and maintenance on the lock. It's just the enhanced maintenance that was not budgeted for," Darcy said.

U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., urged the corps to revamp the way it allocates funds for lock repairs since all of the available money for repairs and new locks are currently going toward the Olmsted Lock in Kentucky. "It's not pretty sight," Fleischmann said of the Chickamauga Lock.